Flexibility and change in distributed cognitive systems
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David B. Kronenfeld
Abstract
An overview of one anthropological view of culture, including how it works and what it buys us, takes culture as a set of collective — differentially distributed — cognitive structures. Pragmatics is distinguished from semantics, and shown to seamlessly extend to non-linguistic knowledge. “Culture” is (flexibly and variably applied) shared differentially distributed pragmatic knowledge. Next come the role culture plays in regard to society and social living, and the role social groups play in culture. Our social universe is shown to be made up of a multiplicity of overlapping social groups. Prototype-extension is offered as the basis of the application of shared concepts to the experienced and imagined world. Types of cultural knowledge systems include: cultural modes of thought, cultural conceptual systems, and cultural models of action. The paper concludes with the approach’s practical implications for analysis, including two concrete examples: Old and Middle English watercourses, and alternative Fanti kinship terminological systems.
Abstract
An overview of one anthropological view of culture, including how it works and what it buys us, takes culture as a set of collective — differentially distributed — cognitive structures. Pragmatics is distinguished from semantics, and shown to seamlessly extend to non-linguistic knowledge. “Culture” is (flexibly and variably applied) shared differentially distributed pragmatic knowledge. Next come the role culture plays in regard to society and social living, and the role social groups play in culture. Our social universe is shown to be made up of a multiplicity of overlapping social groups. Prototype-extension is offered as the basis of the application of shared concepts to the experienced and imagined world. Types of cultural knowledge systems include: cultural modes of thought, cultural conceptual systems, and cultural models of action. The paper concludes with the approach’s practical implications for analysis, including two concrete examples: Old and Middle English watercourses, and alternative Fanti kinship terminological systems.
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
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Introduction
- The emergence of Cognitive Sociolinguistics 1
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Articles
- What is to be learned 23
- Variation, structure and norms 53
- Flexibility and change in distributed cognitive systems 75
- Pragmatic variation and cultural models 107
- Cognitive Sociolinguistics in L2-variety dictionaries of English 133
- Spread of on-going changes in an immigrant language 161
- Defining the cognitive mechanisms underlying reactions to foreign accented speech 187
- Index 213
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
-
Introduction
- The emergence of Cognitive Sociolinguistics 1
-
Articles
- What is to be learned 23
- Variation, structure and norms 53
- Flexibility and change in distributed cognitive systems 75
- Pragmatic variation and cultural models 107
- Cognitive Sociolinguistics in L2-variety dictionaries of English 133
- Spread of on-going changes in an immigrant language 161
- Defining the cognitive mechanisms underlying reactions to foreign accented speech 187
- Index 213
